THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507280181
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Bill Reed
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
So near, yet so far.
That sums up the Beach's quest for its own water source.
On Wednesday, the city got what it has been expecting for several months - a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to withdraw up to 60 million gallons a day from Lake Gaston.
Lake Gaston, as you may recall, is that man-made body of water that stretches along the Virginia-North Carolina border, just below Bowers Hill and Emporia.
It is fed by rivers originating in Virginia and has been eyed as a potential source of water by Virginia Beach for more than 12 years. In that time, the city has poured millions of dollars into the project, mainly in legal fees to fight off court challenges by North Carolina.
Two months ago it seemed the city had a deal with the Tarheel state whereby the Beach could withdraw water through a 76-mile pipeline if a whole bunch of conditions were met. It was all to be tied up neatly by approval of both states' legislatures.
As we all know now, the whole shebang went down the toilet faster than Liquid Plum'r when the governor of Virginia and the General Assembly couldn't agree to meet in special session to consider the settlement, then began pointing fingers of blame at each other.
At the root of the problem is a political power struggle between Republican Gov. Allen and a Democratic-dominated legislature, led by House Speaker Tom Moss of Norfolk. Norfolk was unhappy with the original North Carolina-Beach deal because it precluded Norfolk from selling surplus water to anyone outside South Hampton Roads - like Bosnia or France, for instance. But Norfolk was unhappy even after it got that restriction amended, mainly because Norfolk was likely to lose revenue in the long run.
So Virginia Beach, Gov. Allen and North Carolina tried to negotiate a strictly Beach-Carolina agreement. But Gov. Jim Hunt suddenly decided that if the Virginia legislature couldn't agree on a Gaston agreement, then North Carolina couldn't approve it. Hunt let it be known that he intended to keep fighting the FERC permit in court with endless bureaucratic tie-ups or political smokescreens, whichever served his purpose best.
We are now back in the courtroom tie-up phase and will probably move into the bureaucratic boondoggle phase shortly thereafter. This would be followed by a full-scale blowing-of-smoke-up-the-shorts-of-Virginia-Beach-taxpayers phase.
And all of this would be joined with great glee by folks from other parts of the state who have big political axes to grind and are looking to extort lots of money from the Beach and to squeeze out a few votes for - take your pick - Democrats or Republicans in their respective districts Nov. 7.
Right now the Gaston issue lies in the lap of U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, who had encouraged North Carolina and Virginia Beach to negotiate a settlement in the first place. Hogan is supposed to decide something by Sept. 22.
When he does, we can expect an appeal by either North Carolina or Virginia Beach and the whole thing could wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which very possibly could rule that neither Lake Gaston nor Virginia Beach legally exists and that the whole water issue is unconstitutional.
In which case those water restrictions will remain in force in Virginia Beach. Chesapeake, a partner in the Gaston water quest, will have to make do with undrinkable brackish water. And Norfolk can tighten the screws another notch or two in renegotiating water deals with both localities in the future.
Eventually the Beach's deep pockets will come up empty. When that happens, the political leeches in localities that oppose the water deal will have to look elsewhere for likely victims to suck dry. by CNB